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seccure(1)		     General Commands Manual		      seccure(1)

NAME
     seccure - SECCURE Elliptic Curve Crypto Utility for Reliable Encryption

SYNOPSIS
     seccure-key [-c curve] [-F pwfile] [-d] [-v] [-q]

     seccure-encrypt  [-m  maclen] [-c curve] [-i infile] [-o outfile] [-v] [-q]
     key

     seccure-decrypt [-m maclen] [-c curve] [-i infile] [-o outfile] [-F pwfile]
     [-d] [-v] [-q]

     seccure-sign [-f] [-b] [-a] [-c curve] [-s sigfile] [-i  infile]  [-o  out-
     file] [-F pwfile] [-d] [-v] [-q]

     seccure-verify  [-f] [-b] [-a] [-c curve] [-s sigfile] [-i infile] [-o out-
     file] [-v] [-q] key [sig]

     seccure-signcrypt [-c sig_curve [-c enc_curve]] [-i  infile]  [-o	outfile]
     [-F pwfile] [-d] [-v] [-q] key

     seccure-veridec  [-c enc_curve [-c sig_curve]] [-i infile] [-o outfile] [-F
     pwfile] [-d] [-v] [-q] key

     seccure-dh [-c curve] [-v] [-q]

DESCRIPTION
     The seccure toolset implements a selection of asymmetric  algorithms  based
     on  elliptic  curve  cryptography (ECC). In particular it offers public key
     encryption / decryption, signature generation / verification and basic  key
     establishment.

     ECC  schemes  offer a much better key size to security ratio than classical
     cryptosystems (RSA, DSA). Keys are short enough to make  direct  specifica-
     tion  of  keys  on the command line possible (sometimes this is more conve-
     nient than the management of PGP-like key rings). seccure	builds	on  this
     feature and therefore is the tool of choice whenever lightweight but never-
     theless strong asymmetric cryptography -- independent of key servers, revo-
     cation certificates, the Web of Trust or even configuration files -- is re-
     quired.

COMMANDS
     seccure-key: Prompt for a passphrase and calculate the corresponding public
     key.

     seccure-encrypt: Encrypt a message with public key key.

     seccure-decrypt:  Prompt  for  a passphrase and decrypt a seccure-encrypted
     message.

     seccure-sign: Prompt for a passphrase and digitally sign a message.

     seccure-verify: Verify signature sig with public key key.

     seccure-signcrypt: Sign a message first, encrypt it subsequently (in -b  -a
     and -m 0 mode, respectively). This is basically a shortcut for two separate
     seccure invocations.

     seccure-veridec: Counterpart to signcryption.

     seccure-dh: Perform a Diffie-Hellman key exchange.

OPTIONS
     -c curve
	    Use  elliptic  curve  curve.  Available  are:  secp112r1, secp128r1,
	    secp160r1,		secp192r1/nistp192,	     secp224r1/nistp224,
	    secp256r1/nistp256,  secp384r1/nistp384,  secp521r1/nistp521, brain-
	    poolp160r1,   brainpoolp192r1,   brainpoolp224r1,	brainpoolp256r1,
	    brainpoolp320r1,  brainpoolp384r1,	and  brainpoolp512r1.  The curve
	    name may be abbreviated by any non-ambiguous substring (for instance
	    it is suggested to specify p224 for the  secp224r1/nistp224  curve).
	    The  default  curve  is p160, which provides reasonable security for
	    everyday use. (See also HOW TO CHOOSE THE CURVE.)

	    Note: If a public key is given on the command line, for all SECP and
	    NIST curves seccure can determine the  corresponding  curve  on  its
	    own.  It is then unnecessary to specify the curve explicitly. Brain-
	    pool curves cannot be recognized automatically.

     -F pwfile
	    Don't prompt for a passphrase; instead, take the first text line  of
	    pwfile.

     -m maclen
	    Set  the MAC length to maclen bits. Only multiples of 8 in the range
	    from 0 to 256 are allowed. The default MAC length is 80 bits,  which
	    provides  a  reasonable  level  of integrity protection for everyday
	    use.

     -i infile
	    Read from infile instead of STDIN.

     -o outfile
	    Write to outfile instead of STDOUT.

     -s sigfile
	    For seccure-sign: Write signature to sigfile instead of STDERR.

	    For seccure-verify: Read signature from  sigfile  instead  of  using
	    sig.

     -f     Filter mode: Copy all data read from STDIN verbatim to STDOUT (even-
	    tually attaching or detaching a signature in -a mode).

     -b     Binary  mode: Read/write signatures as binary strings. This leads to
	    very compact signatures.

     -a     Append mode:

	    For seccure-sign: Append signature to the end of the document.  This
	    enforces -f mode.

	    For seccure-verify: Detach signature from the end of the document.

     -d     Double  prompt  mode:  When  reading  a passphrase from the console:
	    prompt twice and assure the phrases are the same.

     -v     Verbose mode: Print some extra information.

     -q     Quiet mode: Disable all unnecessary output.

EXIT STATUS
     All commands in the seccure software suite exit with a status  of	zero  if
     the desired operation could be completed successfully. Any error leads to a
     nonzero exit code.

EXAMPLE
     Given the passphrase 'seccure is secure', run

     seccure-key

     to  determine  the  corresponding	public key (which is '2@DupCaCKykHBe-QH-
     pAP%d%B[' on curve p160).

     To encrypt the file 'document.msg' with that key run

     seccure-encrypt -i document.msg -o document.enc '2@DupCaCKykHBe-QHpAP%d%B['

     The message can be recovered with

     seccure-decrypt -i document.enc

     To sign the file run

     seccure-sign -i document.msg -s document.sig

     and enter the passphrase. The signature is stored in 'document.sig' and can
     be verified with

     seccure-verify -i document.msg -s document.sig '2@DupCaCKykHBe-QHpAP%d%B['

KEY ESTABLISHMENT
     seccure-dh performs an interactive Diffie-Hellman	key  exchange.	Two  in-
     stances  have  to	be run in parallel; the token generated by the first in-
     stance is the input for the second one and vice versa. The output	consists
     of  two  shared  keys:  it is guaranteed that no attacker can ever find out
     (more precisely, distinguished from random) the established key as soon  as
     the  two  parties can confirm that both have the same verification key. The
     authentic comparision of the verification keys can, for example,  be  real-
     ized via signed messages or via telephone (using 'voice authentication').

HOW TO CHOOSE THE CURVE
     The  number  in  the  name  of a curve measures its security level. Rule of
     thumb: the workload to 'break' a k-bit curve is 2^(k/2) approximately  (ex-
     ample:  it takes about 2^112 steps to break secp224r1). If the 80 bit secu-
     rity of the default curve doesn't	seem  sufficient,  choosing  a	stronger
     curve  (p192 and upwards) may, of course, be considered. But the suggestion
     remains: p160 offers reasonable security for  everyday  use.  Warning:  the
     curves p112 and p128 do not satisfy demands for long-time security.

ALGORITHMS
     seccure uses derivated versions of ECIES (Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryp-
     tion  Scheme),  ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) and ECDH
     (Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman) as encryption, signature and key establish-
     ment scheme, respectively. For the symmetric parts (bulk encryption,  hash-
     ing,  key	derivation,  HMAC  calculation) seccure builds on AES256 (in CTR
     mode), SHA256 and SHA512. To my best knowledge no part of seccure	is  cov-
     ered by patents. See the file PATENTS for an explicit patent statement.

AUTHOR
     This  software (v0.5) was written by B. Poettering (seccure AT point-at-in-
     finity.org) in 2006-2014. It is released under the terms of the GNU  Lesser
     General  Public License (LGPLv3). Find the latest version of seccure on the
     project's homepage: http://point-at-infinity.org/seccure/.

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